Lesson 27. Masculine gender
Today we take a closer look at the masculine gender.
Markers of the masculine gender
- Ends in a consonant (most of the time):
- A special group — words ending in
-o, but masculine by meaning:
- Exceptions — male names and words ending in
-a:
Agreement
The following forms go with the masculine:
- Possessive:
moj, tvoj, naš(my, your, our). - Demonstrative:
ovaj, taj, onaj(this, that, that one over there). - Adjective: the bare form with no ending (
crven, plav, veliki).
Animate and inanimate
Within the masculine gender, Serbian distinguishes animate (living) and inanimate (things). The difference will show up in the cases (later on). For now, just notice:
- Animate:
brat, konj, pas, učitelj. - Inanimate:
sto, grad, hleb, prozor.
Exercises
Exercise 1
Which of these words is NOT masculine?
Show explanation
knjiga is feminine (it ends in -a, and it’s not one of the exceptions).
Exercise 2
Choose the right form: «___ prozor»
Show explanation
prozor is masculine. The possessive is moj.
Exercise 3
From this list, write out only the masculine words: brat, mama, konj, more, grad, baka, sto, selo.
Show answer
brat, konj, grad, sto. Feminine: mama, baka. Neuter: more, selo.
Exercise 4
Write in Serbian: “my brother”, “my table”, “my house”.
Show answer
moj brat, moj sto, moj dom.
Exercise 5
The word student isn’t in the dictionary, but you can easily tell its gender. Which one?
Show answer
It ends in a consonant → masculine.
Lesson vocabulary
- student студент
- student
- učitelj учитељ
- teacher (m.)
- orao орао
- eagle
- veliki велики
- big (m.)
- ovaj овај
- this (m.)
- taj тај
- that (m.)
- tvoj твој
- your (m.)
- naš наш
- our (m.)